Rain Gear

I just bought some Frogtoggs too last weekend.
They looked ok for 20 bucks.

 

Frogg Toggs are a good CHEAP option. I've secured loads and chained up in the snow with mine for years. Don't dry them on high (that goes for any raingear).

PVC raingear keeps the water out, but sweat vapor can't get out. That's why waterproof breathable fabrics were invented.

I started hiking, fishing, and climbing in the Olympics and Cascades from the time I was a young boy, in the '60's. Ponchos were the favored raingear back then, because the sides were totally vented.

In the late '70's WL Gore introduced Goretex. The waterproof breathable layer is Teflon that was slightly stretched during extrusion to create tiny holes for water vapor (sweat) to pass through, but small enough that water droplets can't get through.

That's the theory. Now let's look at my 10's of thousands of hours field testing and working with a wide variety of manufacturers, brand name clothing companies, and large retailers (all in the high end outdoor market):

In order for water vapor to pass through a W/B layer there has to be heat to drive it through. That means body heat. It can only pass a limited amount of vapor. Therefore if you are engaged in very sweat worthy activity, like pulling a 200 lb sled up a 30° incline on a glacier for hours, you MUST have venting in addition to the W/B layer. That's why high end jackets DESIGNED for extreme use (Helly Hansen, The North Face, etc) started adding "pit zips", zippers under your armpits to open up vents at the most extreme area of sweat. Often that pit zip will extend down to vent part of your torso. You can regulate body heat with these pit zips very quickly.

Second, W/B fabrics work GREAT the first time you use them. However, take them on a two month expedition or wash and abuse them for an entire season of guiding back country skiing or climbing and you will notice they don't keep you dry anymore. That's because you lose the water REPELLENCY of the outside nylon layer. Brand new fabric has fresh repellent and water hits it and immediately beads up, so water can't saturate the outer fabric and the W/B layer can do its job and let your sweat vapor pass through.

After a while the water repellency wears off. Now when it rains that outer layer of nylon quickly gets saturated, soaking wet. Now the W/B layer can't function, because even IF water vapor could get through it hits solid water on the saturated outer layer and now you get sweaty. That's why we always brought Scotchgard with us on long expeditions, after one incident where we had to cut an expedition short when our waterlogged Goretex put us in survival mode.

I could feel comfortable buying a high end set of W/B raingear for normal flatbed work, but much of the time I need fire resistant outer layer at oil rigs. Then I use Carhartt cotton outerwear. It gets soaked, but cotton is the only thing that I can find for fire resistance.

Frogg Toggs fit the bill for me for a good, cheap, I-don't-give-####-whether-I-get-this-dirty alternative to high end rainwear. It's light. It's a trilaminate fabric (meaning the W/B layer is sandwiched between an outer layer and an inner liner layer). Trilaminates ALWAYS pass water vapor better than bilaminates with a separate liner.

Hope this helps. You can't go wrong with high end brands like Helly Hansen or The North Face. Just make sure you have pit zips and get some Scotchgard to treat the outer fabric once the original water repellency wears off.

 

Wow!!! That’s a ton of great information.

That’s why I got the frog toggs. Flatbed rain gear just gets trashed so I can just throw it away after a couple of tears and buy another set if they get all ripped up. I would hate to be dragging rusty ol chains around in a $150 coat.

 

U aint a real flatbedder until u bungee ur lumber tarps over u and make rain pants out of them

 

I haven't managed to tear my Frogg Toggs. I suspect it's because the outer layer is nonwoven, instead of woven. A woven fabric will abrade, like when pushing up against quartz laden granite when climbing. Once a few fibers get torn it can unravel, but being laminated to the W/B layer it slows down the process while it also starts creating holes in what used to be waterproof.

Nonwovens abrade differently. There are no threads to cut. The entire fabric is a cluster of fabrics, which respond to abrasion by just getting fuzzy. My five year old Frogg Toggs have a few spots that are fuzzy, but that's it. No penetration to create leaks.

 

BMW rain gear. Awesome gear
Y’all make $100k so buy something that will last and keep you dry

 

I just checked that out. Might not be a bad choice. However, I didn't see any pit zips. IMHO pit zips for any expensive raingear should be essential.

There's another thing I forgot to mention and that's freedom of motion. For BMW gear that's meant for riding (motorcycles) the necessary range of motion is limited.

For active sports or work the range of motion is much wider. There are three ways to increase range of motion:

1. Stretch fabric - I think we can all agree that the vast majority of truck drivers should avoid stretch fabrics.


2. Gussets - waterproof golf jackets, for example, now feature gussets behind the shoulders. Gussets are a tucked layer of fabric. Those shoulder gussets allow you to reach forward with your arms to address the ball and swing the club without running up against the restriction of the fabric.

3. Articulation - this started to become the "go to" method of creating freedom of motion in outerwear in the '80's. This means you put a slight bend in the design of the jacket or pants at the joints, so the bend is about in the middle of the range of motion. For an elbow you have the sleeve bent, maybe not quite at 45° for the center of the range of motion, but enough to make sure your arm can bend or extend freely.

I see flatbed work more in terms of climbing. There's lots of overhead motion. I would want plenty of articulation or gussets in the shoulders to allow free movement forward and upwards.

When I attempted Denali in the '80's I had a custom made set of bib overalls and short anorak made to my design. It wouldn't have been good for fashion shows, but it had the absolute greatest freedom of motion of any outerwear I have ever worn. Every joint, including my hips, was articulated to provide complete range of motion.

Bike wear isn't designed for that kind of motion. You might get by with the unnamed last principle for getting that range of motion:

Buy it BIG so you can move...

 

carhart rain gear for the working man

 

I have Helly Hansen rain gear because it was handed out free at job site, it’s all stores had on hand
Good stuff but you sweat like a pig. I bring it fishing because my tarp endorsement not valid

 

***If you want cheap, this isn’t for you***

I spend 2-3 hours a day in the weather and waiting it out isn’t an option for me and I don’t change clothes when I am loaded or unloaded. I have the overall pants also and together they will withstand a full downpour. I bought mine 6 years ago and they are still going strong. They are better suited for cooler weather but I wear them year round. My first jacket the Velcro tore loose after a couple months and they replaced it with no questions. The pants were about the same price.